Shinji MD
by DeathsFool
Summary: Why is it that Shinji has an average intelligence when both Gendo and Yui are geniuses in their fields? A story where Shinji is raised by a decent person and inherits his parents' natural aptitude for learning.


_"I don't need you anymore." _

_A young Shinji cried as that man, his father, turned his back on him and walked away.  
"Daddy, please! I'll do anything! Don't leave me!" he cried.  
His father didn't stop. He didn't look back. He simply kept walking away.  
"Daddy!" the boy wailed. He ran after the moving figure of his father.  
Still crying, he grabbed on to his father's sleeve and tugged.  
Gendo brusquely pulled his arm away and slapped the child away. Stunned, Shinji fell to the floor.  
Shinji raised his gaze to find his father staring down at him. The elder Ikari's gaze was cold and scornful.  
"You disappoint me," he said. Then he turned around and walked away from a stunned Shinji.  
Shinji cried for hours afterwards. His father had abandoned him. His mother had died. He was alone, and it hurt. Why was he being punished? Why did he have to hurt so badly? He was alone…ALONE and he would never-_

Shinji woke up with a start.  
His alarm clock was ringing. Shinji's breathing was labored. He glared at the wailing piece of a banshee he called clock and turned it off with a little more force than usual.

_'That goddamned dream again…'_

He got up, stretched his arms and yawned.  
_'That's the 4__th__ time this week…'_

He shook his head; his dreams were unimportant. It was 6:30 and he had to get ready for his job.

Chapter 1: It can't end badly, right?

"G'morning.

Shinji raised a hand in greeting. Osamu Tezuka smiled at his surrogate child.  
"Breakfast is on the table," he told the boy he viewed as his own child.  
Shinji grunted and sat down.

Tezuka translated this from Shinji talk to English: Thank you. At least that's what he liked to think. He still had some difficulty figuring out the boy that had suddenly shown up in his life.

The Glasses wearing Asshole had dumped the child on him some years ago, and Tezuka hadn't had the foggiest idea how to raise him. He himself wasn't normal, after all.

They hadn't gotten along too well in the beginning. Shinji had closed himself off from everyone and wouldn't speak too much either. Tezuka had never been the outgoing type and he didn't know how to connect with the boy. Still, he had finally connected with the boy after he came home late one night after performing a surgery. He had been exhausted but pleased; he had saved another patient's life. Shinji had tentatively asked him why he was so late, and Tezuka, pleased that Shinji would finally talk to him for once, had tried to answer the question. He had soon gone full rant mode and begun to talk about his surgery with great detail.  
"…I had to remove the tumor before it metastasized but it was located in a very delicate part…"  
Shinji listened with rapt attention as his caretaker kept going on and on about the dangerous foe that he had faced.  
"..And that's how I pulled it off!"  
Tezuka grinned at the child before noticing his confused expression.  
"Oh, I guess you didn't understand, huh?" he sighed. "I'm sorry."

Shinji shook his head.

"No, no. I enjoyed the story!"

"Really?" Tezuka asked. "You're not just saying that to make feel better, right?"

Shinji shook his head. Tezuka noticed that for once, Shinji's expression wasn't closely guarded.  
"No, I really liked it!"

He noticed that Shinji's expression was one of true interest. He smiled at the boy.

"How would you like to hear some more of my stories?"

And so did their relationship strengthen.

Some months passed and Tezuka noticed that Shinji's grades often seemed to be below average. He confronted his charge one day.

"Shinji, I know that you're a smart kid. I know that you often read the textbooks in my room."

Shinji looked away.

"It's okay, I don't mind if you read them. Did you really believe I wouldn't notice? I might not have seen you reading them but the questions you asked me around the dinner table told me a lot more than what my eyesight would've told me.

I guess my question is: Why are you flunking something that's obviously beneath you?"

Shinji looked straight into his eyes.

"Because it bores me! It doesn't challenge me!" Shinji declared.

"I like your stories because I like to figure out what your patients suffer from before you tell me! I like your textbooks because they make me think about so many things at once!"

Tezuka looked at him.

"Shinji, how would you like to come to the hospital with me tomorrow?"

Shinji's stunned expression almost made him smile. It was good to see the usually expressionless Shinji showing an emotion that wasn't irritation, anger or apathy.

"I'd love to."

And thus began Shinji's forays into the world of medicine.

-SCENE BREAK-

After dragging Shinji (by pulling on his ear) towards his car, Tezuka finally began to drive towards the hospital.

"You didn't have to pull on my ear, y'know?" Shinji suddenly spoke.

Tezuka smiled.  
"You're right, I didn't have to. It was merely a whim that I pursued for the sake of my own entertainment."

Shinji growled.

"And people call me an asshole."

"Yeah, yeah, we're here."

Shinji nodded and got off the car.

"See you in lunch break?"  
Shinji turned an appraising glance towards his father.

"I brought bacon!"

Shinji growled.  
_"Goddammit, he didn't plan this from the very beginning did he?"_

Tezuka's innocent smile did nothing to assuage his suspicions.  
"Fine, you got luck today, old man."

Then he turned around and walked away.

"Hey! I'm not that old! Are you listening? Come back, dammit!"

-SCENE BREAK-

Jotaro Honma opened the door labeled: "Dr. Shinji Ikari M.D."

"Here," he said and he handed the bored looking Shinji a folder.

"Shinji glanced at the contents of the folder.

"35 year old with recurrent black outs? Yeah, I'd be having black outs too, if I could drink legally."

"We've already ruled out alcohol and drugs." Honma snapped.

Shinji shrugged

"Probably epilepsy. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I see a how new nurse…"

Shinji was about to walk off when Honma grabbed his shoulder.

"Oh, no you won't! You're gonna solve this case before going off to get more sexual harassment claims for the hospital!"

Shinji glared at him.

"Hey, I'm 14! They don't usually care!"

"No, they didn't care when you were a precocious 8 year old but 14 is fair game for sexual harassment. Or do I have to remind you of the incidents 2 months ago?"

Shinji growled.

"In my defense, Tezuka really shouldn't have given a minor alcohol."

"Hey, hey don't blame me!" a voice behind them said.

"Shut up," both Shinji and Honma replied at the same time.

Tezuka threw a mock glare at them.

"Hey, I resent that! Why do you 2 only come together to gang up on me?"

"Because you're an easy target," Honma replied.

Shinji nodded.

"Yeah, kinda like a dying hyena surrounded by lions," he added his own two cents.

Honma smiled. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

Tezuka dropped the mock glare. "I have to talk to Shinji."

Shinji l turned his gaze at him. "What is it?"

"I just got an e-mail from…from your father."

Shinji snarled.

"It must be a prank. Let's ignore that and move on," he told him.

"Shinji. It says that he sent you a letter. Is that why you've been having those nightmares?"

Shinji looked away.

"Shinji, I'm sorry, but it says that you have been summoned by the Commander of Nerv. Ignoring it will get us both arrested."

Honma spoke up at this point.  
"The man that abandoned you works for Nerv?!"

Shinji glared at him.

"Yes, unfortunately, it seems he's still alive."

Tezuka looked at his young charge. He looked at his brilliant, witty, and yet, miserable charge.

"I think you should go."

Shinji looked at him with surprise and betrayal.

"Yeah, I think you should go too." Honma said.

Shinji glared at them both.

"I'm sorry, I have a patient to attend to. I have to-"

He began to say as he turned around.

Tezuka grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Shinji. I mean it. This could be good for you."

"Yeah, so could getting a colonoscopy. Except I know I'm fine and don't need it," he replied curtly.

"Shinji, if you go, I'll let you off of clinic duty for 2 months. AND, you'll get payed even while you're away," said Honma.

Shinji mulled for a moment.

"Make it 3 months. And I'm coming back right after the meeting."

Honma looked at the child that he was secretly fond of, not that he would ever admit it.

"4 months and you stay for a week," he made his counterproposal.

Shinji looked away.

"Fine," he finally said, "Hey, who's gonna take over my clinic hours?"

"Why, Tezuka, of course!"

"What?!" said man cried out in surprise and outrage.

"On, come now, it's only for a couple of months. I'm sure you can manage," Honma answered cheerfully.

"I hate both of you so much right now," replied Tezuka.

"Now you know how I feel at this particular moment," replied a somber looking Shinji.

-SCENE BREAK-

Shinji glared at the phone that had dared rob him of the few coins he had left.

"C'mon you piece of crap, connect already…"

_"We are sorry to inform you that-"_

"Oh, shut it," Shinji snarled.

He looked around the seemingly empty city where he now found himself.

_'Great, what am I supposed to do now?'_

Shinji stood there for a moment before reaching for his pocket. Although he had not received his father's letter well, the photo that came with it had certainly piqued his interest.

_'Well, if there's no one around….'_

It's at this moment that the gods of cock-blocking attacked the hormonal 14 year old's moment of peace.

_'Is that…Godzilla?'_

He then saw the helicopters trying to damage the massive creature. Their bullets simply bounced off. Shinji stared, transfixed, at the scene in front of him.

He had never seen something like this happen. Was it some king of huge prank? No, it was far too elaborate. His mind kept analyzing different probabilities. Was it a- that's when he noticed that the monster destroyed a helicopter with a _freaking laser beam from its arms_. His survival instincts finally came to life and yelled at his frantic mind to run away, goddammit!

Shinji tried to find some cover when he noticed that his surroundings had become darker…Almost as if something were blocking out the sun…Shinji's mind put 2 and 2 together and he let out a manly yelp as he saw the monster falling…falling…falling ever closer…

End Chapter 1

Author's note: Yeah, it wouldn't be a fanfic without one of these. That aside, this is an idea that simply wouldn't leave my mind. I mean, Gendo and Yui were brilliant scientist, right? Then how come Shinji is the most average guy you'll ever meet? C'mon, even Asuka graduated from college! As some of you probably guessed, this was inspired heavily by House M.D. a series that this author happens to be a fan of. Don't know if I'll continue this, I just wanted to get this out there.


End file.
